Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Topics - Magician

Pages: 1 ... 43 44 [45] 46 47

661

Legality & Taxation of Cryptos / Bitcoin ATM Firm Not Liable for Scam Victim’s Losses: Canadian Judge

« on: October 21, 2018, 02:02:22 AM »

A Canadian bitcoin ATM firm which was sued by a victim of fraud can finally breathe a sigh of relief after a judge ruled that the firm was not liable for the losses incurred.

The victim, a woman whose name was withheld, had sued Instacoin ATM Canada to get back the C$62,500 she sent using the firm’s cryptocurrency vending machines to fraudsters, all the while thinking she was transferring the money to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to pay her taxes, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Delivering the ruling in Charlottetown in Canada’s Prince Edward Island Province, Chief Provincial Judge Nancy Orr ruled that the contract between Instacoin ATM Canada and the woman was for the purchase of exchanging cash for bitcoin — not for the cryptocurrency vending machine firm to send the funds to the tax body.

‘Decentralized Responsibility’

Additionally, the judge stated that users of cryptocurrencies have to take personal responsibility for what they purchase as transactions are not reversible:

“Both sides involved in this case are completely sympathetic to the woman. It’s up to the bitcoin purchaser to know what they’re doing,” the judge ruled.

The victim was initially contacted by the scammers, who were posing as CRA officials and went on to accuse her of making false claims on her tax filings. A recent Iranian immigrant to Canada, the scammers threatened to have her arrested and deported unless she paid the taxes she owed the CRA in bitcoin.

To make the scheme look legitimate, the fraudsters faked a call which appeared to be originating from her accountant’s office with the “advice” that she should pay up. Now duped by the scam, the victim was directed to a specific bitcoin ATM located at a pizza restaurant in Charlottetown.

Fear of the State Machinery

Per the victim’s account of the incident, part of the reason why she acceded to the demands of the scammers was that, with her background, the heavy-handedness of the state was all too familiar and she wanted to avoid falling on the wrong side of the government. But, despite the woman’s lawyer arguing that she acted under duress, Judge Orr pointed out that “Instacoin did not put her under duress” and neither was it aware of her state of mind.

Such scams are, however, not restricted to Canada. Recently, as CCN reported, a similar scam was exposed in Australia, resulting in the country’s taxman issuing a warning to the effect that the Australian Taxation Office does not accept tax debts to be paid in bitcoin. Despite the warnings, the scam still persists, and as of earlier this month, the con artists had hauled in AU$50,000, with the amount being potentially higher since some victims are usually too embarrassed to report.

Source

662

XRP - Ripple Forum / Will there be a SWIFT – Ripple Partnership Soon?

« on: October 20, 2018, 04:05:07 PM »

Ripple’s high popularity has recently earned it the privilege of occupying a kind of honor seat in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Every day more and more users follow not only the news of this company’s strategic alliances but also the technological advances and even the price fluctuations that its XRP token experiences over time.

In fact, this controversial cryptocurrency has gained so much traction that it even “took” Ethereum’s place for several hours as the second most important cryptocurrency within the global market cap.

However, despite Ripple’s conceptual philosophy, many users have speculated about what the future of startup might be, and lately, there has been a rumor that SWIFT, the ultimate representative of the traditional money transmission system, would be in danger of being replaced by Ripple or even thinking about using its technology.

Ripple + SWIFT: A Rumour With Solid Foundation

One of the reasons for this rumor is Ripple’s presence at the Sibos Conference: An event organized by SWIFT and to be held in Sydney next week. Generally, in Sibos, the most important exponents of the world of finance meet to discuss strategic areas regarding the development of technologies applied to the economy.

Ripple’s exponential growth and strategic partnerships with several banks make it possible to reach this conclusion. The recent announcement of xRapid’s launch with several global clients already using it, allows both technologies to be compared with clear advantages for Ripple in several aspects.

However, it is important to note that until now neither of the two companies has mentioned any interest in working together, and while it may be possible that an agreement of this magnitude is handled with a high degree of confidentiality, there is always some leak that lets the community tie up loose ends.

So far there has been no indication of this.

SWIFT: Looking at The Blockchain Before It Was Cool

What is known is that SWIFT is highly interested in using blockchain technologies to increase its platform’s effectiveness.

SWIFT’s interest in the use of such technologies is not new. As early as 2015, SWIFT announced that it would provide financial support to the Linux Foundation. With this alliance, the Hyperledger project would become a platform “sponsored” by SWIFT.

Then, in 2016, SWIFT started a series of studies to analyze the feasibility of using blockchain technologies on its platform.

The study yielded interesting results that already showed SWIFT’s interest in using this type of technology even though Ripple was not a project of particular importance in the ecosystem:

“Our analysis has confirmed that DLTs have the potential to bring new opportunities and efficiencies to the financial industry with their key strengths including the ability to create:

Trust in a disseminated system;

Efficiency in broadcasting information;

Complete traceability of transactions;

Simplified reconciliation; and

High resilience.

However, despite the benefits, there were tough obstacles that had to be overcome for SWIFT to start contemplating the imminent possibility of migration.

Ripple and SWIFT or Ripple vs SWIFT?

As early as 2017, SWIFT announced that it would conduct a series of preliminary studies in a Proof of Concept blockchain. 33 banks participated in this test “designed to validate whether the technology can help banks reconcile their international Nostro accounts in real time.”

The results were defined as “extremely positive.” On March 8, 2018, SWIFT published a report showing the results of its DLT proof of concept for Nostro reconciliation. An idea they defined as “one of the largest and most ambitious proofs of concepts run with the emergent technology.”

According to the results, the tests went “extremely well:” although some problems remained. The report concluded that it was too early for SWIFT to adopt DLTs as a standard.

“The PoC went extremely well, proving the fantastic progress that has been made with DLT and the Hyperledger fabric in particular,” said Damien Vanderveken, Head of Research and Development at SWIFT. The DLT sandbox enabled us to control access, to define and enforce user privileges, to physically segregate confidential data and store it only with the relevant parties while supporting a strong identity framework by linking all participants to their BIC, and having all keys signed by a SWIFT certification authority “.

SWIFT currently controls a System used by more than 11000 institutions in 200 countries, and although Ripple has had an accelerated growth, its market share is minimal compared to that of SWIFT.

It is very likely that instead of a commercial partnership SWIFT is looking to be a direct competitor to Ripple; however, any idea is mere speculation. Despite this, any effort by either Ripple or SWIFT to bring together two markets that until recently were considered antagonistic is something to be admired.

Competition is good, so are alliances. At the end of the day, it is the ecosystem that wins with all this.

Source

663

Legality & Taxation of Cryptos / Japanese Government to Simplify Cryptocurrency Taxation Process

« on: October 20, 2018, 03:55:51 PM »

A committee of tax experts in Japan that is responsible for advising the government on taxation matters has called for the simplification of the country’s cryptocurrency tax filing process.

According to officials of the tax panel, the process is currently complicated and a change is required in order to enhance accuracy and compliance. Per a Japanese news publication, Sankei, the committee held a meeting earlier in the week where the proposal to change the current cryptocurrency tax filing system was discussed.

Part of the problem according to the committee lies in the fact that calculating cryptocurrency gains for taxation purposes is a complex affair and this discourages some owners of digital assets from declaring their crypto holdings when filing tax returns.

Taxing Gains and Conversion Premium

According to the tax panel, cryptocurrencies in the Asian country are taxed not only on the gains made but also on the gains accruing when one digital asset is converted into another. Other complications stem from the fact that a unified source of historical data on prices is lacking. Towards finding a solution the panel has indicated that it will hold meetings where it will seek views and opinions from various stakeholders.

As previously reported by CCN cryptocurrency investors in Japan face crypto tax rates ranging between 15% and 55% and this is classified under miscellaneous income. The amount paid as tax depends on earnings with the higher rate imposed on the high-earners. For instance, investors who generate yearly earnings of more than 40 million yen (approximately US$365,000) pay a 55% rate on their cryptocurrency income.

The view by the tax panel that simplifying the cryptocurrency tax filing process will enhance compliance is correct as it has been previously noted that a significant number of crypto investors in Japan could be evading taxes. A report released earlier this year, for instance, indicated that out of the 549 individuals who recorded a non-working or non-operational profit (income generated from investments) of US$1 million in 2017, about 331 were investors in the crypto space.

Tax Avoidance

This was however met with incredulity with some observers saying that many more evaded paying taxes on their crypto investments especially given the fact that Japan is not only the world’s third-largest economy but the level of cryptocurrency use, awareness and adoption is among the highest in the globe.

“If the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency sector in late 2017 is considered, 331 is a number that is simply too low to be true. A large portion of cryptocurrency investors probably did not declare their earnings to the government,” one analyst observed as CCN reported at the time.

Source

664

Articles about Cryptocurrency / Bitcoin's White Paper Gave Us Liberty – Let's Not Give It Back

« on: October 20, 2018, 03:53:00 PM »

Ten years after Satoshi published the white paper that gave us bitcoin – and the explosion of innovation it launched – I continue to be astounded at its transformative power.

Money is such a fundamental part of life, and it has played such a huge role in mine, for good and bad. Bitcoin is the awakened sleeping giant of it all because it has fundamentally and forever changed money and, more importantly, money's seat of power.

For me, this is the most important aspect of bitcoin and cryptocurrency: its role in propagating power to the greatest number of people possible. What Satoshi did when he democratized money was hand every individual alive – and generations to come – vast personal liberty.

This shift in power from the few to the many equals events in history like the advent of democracy itself, the invention of the printing press and the Renaissance. But it's important to remember that nothing is free. What we gained in liberty with bitcoin, we lost in the security of knowing someone else was responsible for protecting our money.

But which would you rather have? Would you rather be able to spend your money exactly how you see fit and know that it is safe from the whims of political leaders with no skin in the game? Or would you rather have the comfort of knowing that if you fail to be vigilant, someone will make you financially whole again?

This is why I'm an ardent student of history. It's a shortcut to understanding human nature, and it tells me I'd rather take my chances being the one making decisions about my life.

A Real Use Case

These days you don't even need to study the past. The 24-hour news cycle gives us a window on economic disaster as it unfolds. We're seeing in real time every stage of financial collapse on a national scale.

Look to Venezuela to see a society in the last throes of a financial meltdown, its people starving while its leaders continue to thrive, inflation hitting numbers that seem made up.

The International Monetary Fund expects that Venezuela's year-end annual inflation rate will approach 13,000 percent. That's astonishing when you consider that 4 or 5 percent makes news in other parts of the world. We've all heard about post World War I Germany and people using bags of money to buy bread. Here we are, a century later, and people are still subject to the capriciousness of the powerful.

Bitcoin could have changed things for the Venezuelans if they'd had an inkling of what was to come – and they should have – and thought to buy bitcoin or some other currency not tied to the bolivar.

Look to Turkey to see the early stages of a financial meltdown. The country is battling rising government debt, double-digit inflation and a currency whose value has plummeted. Turkish citizens are frantically unloading their lira to hang onto whatever value they can.

Many are turning to foreign currencies and many to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

According to a survey of 15,000 people by Statistica, roughly one in five Turks owns cryptocurrency, the greatest rate of adoption of any of the countries surveyed. Bitcoin is already changing things for the Turks.

To see a society in the earliest stages of this kind of collapse, look to the U.S. Few here realize where we are headed with our inflationary monetary policy and runaway spending. But those few are already hedging against what many experts say will be a new and massive financial crisis for this country.

For the few paying attention, bitcoin is changing things in the U.S. before they even get started.

Fiat's Star is Setting

We all know from trading cards and small toys in the schoolyard that money is part of being human. If it doesn't already exist for us, we create it. I saw that in prison.

Despite rules and razor wire, prisoners were able to create a currency of mackerel packets and a black market economy that was stunningly diverse in what it offered for sale – everything from personal services like weight training and letter writing to specialty catering built on the limited, shelf-stable foods available.

So in a sense, bitcoin is nothing new to money. People are always innovating, and bitcoin is the logical next step. It is the response of people long imprisoned by a system that puts them at a significant disadvantage compared to the powerful. It's a system that has allowed those who rule money to steal from the people who use and save it for themselves and their families.

Again, you don't need a history book to see what happens when governments are sloppy and even malicious with monetary policy, when leaders neglect their duty to protect not only a country's currency but also its value. All we need to know from history is that this has happened many more times than once and that it will happen again – is happening now.

Our dependence on others to take care of us at the expense of personal liberty and responsibility has grown insidiously to the point when people are at the mercy of individuals and organizations who have never had their best interests at heart.

Bitcoin comes with great rewards and risk, but your national currency is fiat with everything that entails and has its own even graver risks, I believe. To me, it is handing someone else the keys to the future and crossing your fingers.

Any history book will tell you how well that's worked out.

Source

665

Articles about Cryptocurrency / Ernst & Young Report: One Year on, ICOs' Fate Is 'Worse Than We Thought'

« on: October 20, 2018, 03:49:25 PM »

A new report published Oct. 19 by Big Four auditor Ernst and Young has found that initial coin offerings (ICOs) that raised capital in 2017 have done “little to inspire confidence” one year on.

The report, which is dedicated to what EY dubs the “The Class of 2017,” revisits the same projects the firm first analyzed back in Dec. 2017; the sample comprises over 141 “top” ICOs, representing 87 percent of total ICO funding that year.

One year later, EY’s statistics are stark: 86 percent of project tokens are reportedly currently trading below their listing price, with 30 percent having lost “substantially all value.” Overall, the report continues, “an investor purchasing a portfolio of The Class of 2017 ICOs on 1 January 2018 would most likely have lost 66% of their investment.”

Beyond investment returns, the auditor also analyzed the development of working products or prototypes, finding that at present, only 29 percent of studied projects had either – up just 15 percent from at the end of last year.

71 percent of projects have “no offering in the market at all.”

Of those projects that do offer a functional product or prototype, seven reportedly accept fiat currencies as payment alongside their native tokens, which EY suggests is a decision that “reduces the value” of investors’ tokens. One has even reportedly stopped accepting token payments altogether. Many of those projects with working products, EY suggests, are:

“Abandoning their ICO investors by de-emphasizing the role of their tokens [….] projects accepting fiat usually offer some benefits for token users, similar to points in traditional loyalty programs. However, users do not use utility tokens to store value. To use the platform, users have to purchase the necessary amount and incur related transaction costs and token volatility risk.”

EY continues to outline the apparent double bind that faces many projects; “[t]o become a means of payment, utility tokens have to be stable. If it remains stable, the token is of little interest to speculative investors.”

The auditor found that only ten ICO tokens have seen any gains, which it says are “mostly” in the blockchain infrastructure category; nonetheless, such growth has done little to counter the Ethereum (ETH) platform’s industry “dominance,” EY argues.

Paul Brody, global innovation leader for blockchain technology at EY, told The Globe and Mail in an interview, “this looks worse than we thought.” He compared the ICO landscape with the bleak fate of the late 1990s’ internet startups – in the latter’s favor. Brody singled out one dot-com era boom-and-bust casualty as an example: “At least from Pets.com you could get pets food, [t]hey had an actual working business... a product.”

As previously reported, data through Sept. 2018 corroborates that Ethereum remains the dominant platform for issuing tokens, with a share of almost 90 percent; some have observed this has left many ICO projects exposed to the altcoin’s market losses this year.

Conversely, others have argued that it is ICO developers themselves – who are cashing out their ETH holdings to spend on product development – that have contributed to the price weakness in the 2018 Ethereum market.

Source

666

Legality & Taxation of Cryptos / World Nr.2 Female Tennis Player Caroline Wozniacki to Launch Own Token

« on: October 20, 2018, 08:58:25 AM »

Former Nr.1 female tennis player Caroline Wozniacki signed an agreement on Thursday with Singapore-based Global Crypto Offering Exchange (GCOX) to develop her own token, Reuters reports. The firm claims to be the world’s first licensed celebrity token exchange. By holding the tokens created on behalf of Wozniacki, the fans will be able to have better interaction with her.

GCOX says that Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao and ex-football player Michael Owen are private investors in the company. One of the two sportsmen will become the first to sell such a token, the company says. Last week, we reported that Manny Pacquiao announced the PAC token in partnership with GCOX. The launch took place at the Blockchain Fair Asia 2018, in Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Besides these athletes, GCOX also lists Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, as a private investor.

GCOX intends to expand the concept and create tokens for more celebrities in the coming months. These celebrity tokens will give holders the opportunity to buy exclusive merchandise and access to their idols. On the other side, celebrities will generate income from the token sales.

Wozniacki told Reuters:

“To be the first female athlete to have her own token is really cool...I am looking forward to expanding that before other people start getting into it.”

Jeffrey Lin, CEO of GCOX, told media that the first celebrity token might be launched in 2019.

“If everything goes well, first quarter of 2019 will be the first celebrity token and it could be Michael’s, it could be Manny’s, I am not sure yet,” he said.

Prior to buying celebrity tokens provided by GCOX, investors must first purchase GCOX’s utility tokens with the ticket ACM. Lin revealed that the company was targeting from $300 million to $600 million from the token sale.

Some football legends have already launched their own tokens through other platforms. Brazilian star Ronaldinho issued his own cryptocurrency called Ronaldinho Soccer Coin, with the ticker RSC. The token was built on the NEO blockchain.

Source

667

USDT Forum / A Tether Copycat Appears in Romania

« on: October 20, 2018, 08:53:12 AM »

While most of the world endeavors to use Tether (USDT) as the stablecoin du jour, a company in Romania decided to present a different approach for people inside the country.

As it is often difficult to acquire USDT in that part of the world, the idea of RONcoin (RONC) popped up and materialized through the guiding hands of Bitcoin Romania, the country’s leading provider of BTC and ETH exchange services.

According to the official website, over one billion tokens worth $246 million are currently available for trading with 25,000 ($6,155) currently in circulation. The backers behind the coin promise that the supply will be audited with consistency.

“Transparency defines us. Transactions could be placed at any time under an audit stored in the blockchain… Our reserve account is audited regularly and you have access to your balance 24/7. To issue or redeem RONC, you will have to go through our know your customer (KYC) form,” the site says.

The coin is purportedly backed by a 1-to-1 ratio of Romanian New Lei (RON), similarly to how Tether is backed up by an equal balance of US dollars.

While this may make the purchase of a stablecoin easier for Romanian citizens, its use is questionable in a land where paper cash is still king. So far, only a few companies in the country accept cryptocurrency at all.

Then there are the the Zebrapay terminals set up in the country that allow people to purchase BTC and ETH directly with their paper cash through a partnership with Bitcoin Romania, the very company behind RONC.

At first, it appears that BR is competing with itself through this offer, but then we must take into account that Zebrapay does not allow people to sell their cryptoassets for RON. RONC may be the solution to this problem, especially considering that Bitcoin Romania’s own ATMs that allow people to sell their coins are only found in a couple of locations around the country.

The final question is, then, “How will people be able to redeem their RONC in return for cash?”

Source

668

Cryptocurrency discussions / Why Are Altcoins No Longer Getting Good News Boosts

« on: October 20, 2018, 08:30:53 AM »

Last year news of a new partnership however small, or new software or wallet upgrades, or a hard fork, airdrop, the possibility of an exchange listing, or even a shill from a crypto pundit, would have a major effect on the price of a cryptocurrency. Daily pumps of altcoins were commonplace and the ecosystem was an exciting one to be in.

2018 however seems to have been the complete opposite with bears smashing the markets despite positive news coming from several directions. This week has been a prime example with a number of altcoins getting some good news but seeing no positive effects on prices. Those that do get a pump usually get dumped the following day or sooner anyway, the momentum is just not lasting.

The Coinbase announcement of 0x listing should have sent ZRX to the moon as it did with previous cryptos. This did not happen and the news was marred with accusations of insider trading and criticism of the 0x protocol. The token did pump to over a dollar on Wednesday but has since lost over 17% and still looks very bearish. 0x is down over 52% in the past six months despite the developments.

Then there is Tron which gets daily fomo inducing pumps from founder Justin Sun and the rest of the team. Most of these ‘partnership’ teasers are insignificant but the latest one regarding collaboration with Baidu should have had a bigger impact. Granted, there was no actual partnership but the fact that China’s largest internet company will be working with the Tron Foundation should have had some effect on TRX prices. It didn’t as TRX spiked a little on Monday but has lost almost 7% since then and is down over 70% in the past six months.

Next up is Omise which received a large investment from a Japanese venture capitalist firm this week in order to target enterprise adoption in Southeast Asia as a part of its strategy. Last year this would have sent OMG skyrocketing but it hardly moved. There was a tiny 5% movement after the announcement this week but again the altcoin has fallen back from its weekly high and is a whopping 82% down on its prices six months ago.

Qtum has faced similar disappointment. News this week that it would be partnering up with Amazon Web Services in China should have made a positive impact on token price. After a little spurt to over $4, QTUM as slid back 3.5% as the bears kept selling. Over the past six months Qtum has also lost over 80%.

ICON is similar; having made major inroads with the South Korean government its token price is still on the floor. ICX is currently down 4% from its weekly high and has been smashed 85% in the past six months.

The list goes on with Stellar, Monero, Neo, Ethereum Classic, Tezos, Maker, and BAT all getting good news and positive developments over the past couple of months but not seeing any beneficial price action. It seems that all those that have been burnt during the first half of the year are out of the market and are too afraid to get back in. Cryptocurrency levels now are back to mid-2017 prices and it will take a lot more than positive news to see them surging again.

Source

669

Articles about Cryptocurrency / CNBC: 2018 Bear Market “Opportune” For Crypto Merger & Acquisition

« on: October 20, 2018, 08:28:44 AM »

Cryptocurrency–The ongoing bear cycle for the cryptocurrency markets throughout 2018, which have seen the steady erosion of over $600 billion in market capitalization, have provided “opportune” conditions for a subset of companies and investors.

According to a report out of CNBC published on Oct 18, not only have cryptocurrency deal makers managed to thrive as coin prices plummet but they have also found opportunity to capitalize on the bear market in the form of merger and acquisition. While Bitcoin prices have fallen 54 percent on the year, merger and acquisition activity for cryptocurrency companies has more than doubled during that time, according to data from PitchBook and JMP Securities. Chief among the drivers of merger and acquisition is a relative “land grab” for new blockchain and crypto technology, with the access to new markets such as those in the developing world and parts of South America being particularly attractive, as well as the high demand for talented employees in the growing space–one that is only now being caught up on in terms of training through traditional finance routes and educational institutions.

Satya Bajpai of JMP Securities reported that acquisition in the current landscape of crypto remains an attractive proposition due to the nexus of Bitcoin pricing extending to the value of blockchain and cryptocurrency projects. Rather than being valued on an individual basis, crypto companies and token-based startups have seen their value tethered to the performance of the number one cryptocurrency by market capitalization. With the waning price of BTC throughout 2018, these companies have become cheaper to acquire, despite growing in potential, userbase and the viability of the underlying technology. Bajpai reports that this fixation on BTC valuation has created an “ideal opportunity for strategic acquirers,” with smart investors looking at growth opportunity as the most efficient manner for dominating the crypto space,

“As soon as a company becomes interesting, they get bought–the deal size may still remain small, but the number of deals will increase because that’s the most viable and fastest way to grow in this environment.”

Just as many crypto enthusiasts and investors have pointed out the contradiction of falling prices throughout 2018, that adoption and development for the industry has managed to grow despite the slumping market cap, Bajpai sees the current landscape of crypto as being opportune for the right parties–and the number of deals being made throughout the year reflects his belief. Compared to the 47 total merger and acquisition deals completed throughout 2017, 115 m&a deals have already been made in 2018, on pace to hit 145 by year’s end. Despite Bitcoin reaching an all time high of $20,000 in December 2017, the acquisition of cryptocurrency-based companies has made for the more attractive proposition in the price-depressed market of October 2018, with many acquirers seeing the current valuation as a deal too good to pass up.

Until crypto startups and token based projects begin an independent valuation not tied to the performance of BTC, the ongoing bear market will continue to produce technology that–in the eyes of some analysts–is grossly undervalued. Speaking with CNBC, Bajpai put the state of the industry in blunt terms,

“You’re seeing a mispricing of assets. Even for great businesses, the value of the token remains correlated to bitcoin, which can create an ideal opportunity for strategic acquirers.”

Source

670

News related to Crypto / Chip Maker TSMC Forecasts Weaker Crypto Mining Demand in Q4

« on: October 20, 2018, 08:24:43 AM »

Chip-making giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has predicted weak demand for processors from cryptocurrency miners in the fourth quarter of this year.

TSMC, the primary supplier for crypto mining giant Bitmain, announced in its Q3 2018 earnings call Oct. 17 that its revenue growth will be impacted by "continued weakness" in the crypto mining market. As a result, the company has lowered its annual revenue growth forecast for 2018.

According to Bitmain's initial public offering application filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in late September, nearly 60 percent of its total chip supply came from TSMC in 2017 and the first half of 2018.

"We estimate our 2018 growth rate will be about 6.5 percent in U.S. dollar term, which is close to the foundry industry's growth but slightly below our 7 percent to 9 percent guidance given in the last conference," said C. C. Wei, CEO and vice chairman of TSMC.

TSMC reported a net income of around $2.9 billion for Q3, marking growth of 23.2 percent over Q2. However, on a year-on-year basis, net profit declined by 0.9 percent.

Net revenue for Q3 came in at $8.486 billion – an increase of 11.6 percent over Q2. Revenue growth year-on-year came to 3 percent.

In its last quarterly report, the firm had also predicted continued weaker cryptocurrency mining demand, as CoinDesk reported at the time.

However, Lora Ho, senior vice president and chief financial officer at TSMC, said Wednesday that third quarter revenue came in "stronger" than expected.

For the fourth quarter, Ho again forecast that revenue growth will be "partially offset by continued weakness in cryptocurrency mining demand and inventory management" by its customers.

Edit: Some of the reported figures were originally stated as millions. This was corrected soon after publication.

Source

671

News related to Crypto / North Korean Hacking Group Lazerus Stole $571 Million in Cryptos: Report

« on: October 20, 2018, 08:22:00 AM »

North Korea's infamous hacking group, dubbed Lazarus, has managed to steal over half a billion dollars in cryptocurrencies, a report indicates.

According to an article published Friday by The Next Web, the coming annual report from cybersecurity vendor Group-IB sets out that Lazarus was behind 14 hacks on crypto exchanges since January 2017, reaping a massive $571 million from the attacks.

The news backs up claims from officials in South Korea, who said in February that North Korean hackers likely stole tens of millions of dollars' worth in cryptocurrencies in 2017.

As reported by CoinDesk, the country's National Intelligence Service said that phishing scams and other criminal methods methods had yielded tens of billions of won in customer funds. Authorities were also probing whether the same hackers were behind the January hack of the Coincheck exchange, which saw over $500 million in cryptocurrency taken – though Lazarus wasn't specifically mentioned.

More generally, Group-IB also indicates that $882 million in cryptocurrency was stolen from exchanges in total from 2017 to 2018, according to a summary of the report obtained by the tech news source.

The security provider said the number of attacks targeting crypto exchanges is likely to rise further, with hackers of more traditional financial institutions such as banks being drawn to the space seeking big gains.

The summary also looks at the methods used by hackers in order to carry out their attacks, saying spear phishing, social engineering and malware are the most widespread tools of the illicit trade.

TNW cited the report as saying that spear phishing – targeting individuals or organizations with malware delivered via an email attachment – is the "major vector of attack" on enterprise networks. It adds:

"After the local network is successfully compromised, the hackers browse the local network to find work stations and servers used working with private cryptocurrency wallets."

Furthermore, says Group-IB, hackers have made off with 10 percent of the funds raised by ICO platforms since early 2017, with phishing the most common means of attack.

The firm reportedly suggests that over-keen investors have been rushing to participate in token sales without paying sufficient attention to their security, often falling foul of tricks such as fake websites. For example, one such fake targeted would-be investors in the major ICO launched by Telegram, as reported in March.

Group-IB further warns that mining pools could prove a tempting target for hackers, saying bad actors could employ 51 percent attacks to take over networks, as has happened at a number of crypto projects this year.

Source

672

Legality & Taxation of Cryptos / Global AML Watchdog to Release Crypto Regulations By Next June

« on: October 20, 2018, 08:20:51 AM »

A global money-laundering watchdog has said it will begin publishing rules for international cryptocurrency regulation by next summer.

According to a Reuters report Friday, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the France-based intergovernmental body founded in 1989 to develop policies for tackling money laundering – said that global jurisdictions will have to bring into force licensing schemes or regulations for crypto exchanges and possibly digital wallet providers under the new rules. Companies offering financial services for initial coin offerings will also be included, the report states.

The news comes after the FATF plenary meeting this week with officials from 204 global jurisdictions to discuss crypto regulations and other matters.

Reuters also reports that FATF's president, Marshall Billingslea, designated June as the month in which the group will begin publishing its guidelines and enforcement expectations.

He was quoted as saying:

"By June, we will issue additional instructions on the standards and how we expect them to be enforced."

As reported in July, the G20 member countries had been eyeing at an October 2018 deadline for movement on a global anti-money laundering (AML) standard around cryptocurrency.

With the G20 seeking "vigilant" monitoring of cryptocurrencies, FATF was called on to clarify how its existing AML standards could be applied to cryptocurrency.

In a statement released on Friday, the group said that "there is an urgent need for all countries to take coordinated action to prevent the use of virtual assets for crime and terrorism."

"As part of a staged approach, the FATF will prepare updated guidance on a risk-based approach to regulating virtual asset service providers, including their supervision and monitoring; and guidance for operational and law enforcement authorities on identifying and investigating illicit activity involving virtual assets," the FATF explained in its missive.

Source

673

Articles about Cryptocurrency / Such Borrow, Many Loan: Crypto Lender SALT Now Takes Dogecoin as Collateral

« on: October 20, 2018, 03:27:48 AM »

Cryptocurrency investors have another way to access capital without having to liquidate their portfolios. SALT Lending, which has issued more than $50 million in blockchain-backed loans, is capitalizing on the liquidity in dogecoin and has begun offering loans in USD collateralized by longtime crypto darling DOGE. Dogecoin’s profile has been on the rise in recent months as investors have flocked to the altcoin while leaving others out in the cold.

SALT promoted the coin addition subtly on social media by adding Doge, a “Japanese dog breed Shiba Inu” who is the dogecoin mascot, to its Twitter profile. In addition to dogecoin, SALT also supports loans backed by litecoin (LTC), bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH).

“The majority of loans are collateralized by bitcoin, though some loans are collateralized by ethereum, litecoin or a combination of the three. We are excited to have Doge as our newest collateral type,” Jennifer Nealson, SALT’s chief marketing officer, told CCN.

Source: Twitter

DOGE boasts a market cap of $500 million and trades on many popular cryptocurrency exchanges with one notable exception, Coinbase. While rumors have been circulating that Dogecoin community leaders are pursuing a Coinbase listing, the DOGE team rebuffed those claims.

In the announcement, SALT described dogecoin as an “internet sensation,” one whose value has recovered in 2018 while other altcoins have suffered. DOGE, whose value is up approximately 80 percent since mid-August, has made its way to the top 21 cryptocurrencies, having recently surrendered the no. 20 spot to privacy coin zcash (ZEC).

According to GitHub,”Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency like bitcoin, although it does not use SHA256 as its proof of work (POW). Taking development cues from Tenebrix and litecoin, dogecoin currently employs a simplified variant of scrypt.”

SALT Lending

SALT’s Nealson explained to CCN that, depending on their jurisdiction, borrowers can use the funds either for personal or business reasons. “SALT transfers the loan amount to the borrower’s bank account to be used by the borrower,” she said.

Incidentally, earlier this month, SALT began issuing USD loans backed by litecoin, at which time it revised its interest rate model to include rates as low as 5.99 percent for loans less than $75,000 and 11.99 percent for loans up to $25 million. With the addition of dogecoin, SALT integrated a voting system for new coins that borrowers want to see on the platform.

“We’re listening to members of our community and are continuing to learn what’s most valuable to them. Currently, people can vote on ETH Classic, Monero, XRP, Cardano, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, or they can fill in their own recommendation, as we’re always working to expand our collateral offerings,” said Nealson.

Competitive Landscape

Perhaps the next area of focus will be stablecoins, which are the latest trend in the cryptocurrency community. BlockFi, which is a competitor to SALT Lending that similarly offers loans backed by cryptocurrency, in recent days announced its support for Gemini Dollar (GUSD) as collateral for USD loans. GUSD is the stablecoin that was issued by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ crypto exchange, Gemini. In addition to GUSD, BlockFi also added support for litecoin-backed loans, though it’s not a stablecoin.

Meanwhile, SALT has experienced rising demand for its crypto-backed loans from the “UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam,” and the firm recently expanded its reach in the U.S. to 35 U.S. states.

Source

674

Other Popular Cryptos / Coins / ERC-20 Token BAT Posts Major Rally as Brave’s Cryptocurrency Program Enters Beta

« on: October 20, 2018, 03:25:13 AM »

The cryptocurrency market posted a minor decline on Friday, with bitcoin and most other large-cap assets shedding about one to two percent of their previous-day valuations. Ethereum token BAT, however, managed to resist the market’s gravitational pull and post a major single-day rally.

Ethereum Token BAT Hits Two-Month High

BAT — short for Basic Attention Token — is the native currency of Brave, the ICO-funded web browser that seeks to use the cryptocurrency token to upend the web’s traditional advertising model.

For most of the day Thursday, BAT had traded below $0.215, and it continued to hold that line heading into Friday morning. That changed shortly before 9:30 UTC, when the token’s price leaped to $0.235, en route to an intraday peak at $0.25 — its highest point since early August.

BAT/USD (calculated) | Binance

However, since peaking at that mark, BAT has entered a steep pullback, so it’s unclear what percentage of its gains it will sustain heading into the weekend. As of the time of writing, BAT was trading at an equivalent of $0.235 on Binance, and its global average price had risen 14 percent over the previous 24 hours.

BAT’s 14 percent rally made it the top-performing asset among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies. Even more impressive, it was the only cryptocurrency to rise more than 10 percent, and its single-day climb was nearly double that of the next-best coin — Digitex Futures — which rose 7.35 percent on the day.

Brave’s Cryptocurrency Rewards Program Enters Beta

The dramatic upswing may have been connected to the announcement, made late on Thursday, that Brave Rewards — formerly known as Brave Payments — had entered beta testing in preparation for its eventual full-scale rollout.

This program, as CCN reported, allows publishers and other content creators to earn cryptocurrency payments, denominated in BAT, based on the amount of time that users spend on their websites. They can then withdraw these tokens to external ethereum wallets, or convert them to their local currency through cryptocurrency brokerage service Uphold.

Users, in turn, receive a browsing experience that is free from the obtrusive, privacy-leaking advertisements that, unfortunately, have come to dominate the vast bulk of the online publishing space. The browser blocks all ads by default, though users can opt in to receive a limited number of non-tracking ads, the revenue from which goes primarily to publishers — not third-party ad companies like Google.

Though not yet a major player in the Chrome/Safari-dominated browser space, Brave’s market share is steadily growing. The company said that it expects to hit 5 million monthly active users by the end of the year, and Popular Science has identified it as one of the top alternatives to Chrome and Safari.

As Brave continues to give BAT a larger role on its platform — while also growing the browser’s user base — the token should earn the distinction of being one of the first so-called “utility tokens” to actually have demonstrable utility.

Source

675

Articles about Cryptocurrency / 86% of ICO Tokens Worth Less than Initial Cryptocurrency Exchange Listing Price

« on: October 20, 2018, 03:22:51 AM »

Global professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY) has released a report on the performance of ICOs over the last year, and in keeping with the bear market for cryptocurrency assets, the trend was predictably downward.

Just 10 Tokens Count for 99% of All ICO Gains

EY released a report on ICOs back in December 2017, which included a total of 372 projects. Within those projects were 110 standout ICOs that accounted for 87 percent of all funds raised among all projects analyzed. They dubbed this collection of more successful projects the “Class of 2017,” and in this latest report, released this week, they examined where that class is now in terms of value and progress.

Altcoin market cap | Source: CoinMarketCap

Unfortunately, if you had created a portfolio of the Class of 2017, you would have lost about two-thirds of your investment relative to the value of the tokens when they were first listed on a cryptocurrency exchange. And, perhaps more significantly given the wider market downtrend, only 25 of the 110 projects have any kind of working product or prototype.

Further highlighting the risk-reward gamble of investing in ICO tokens, 86 percent are now worth less than their initial exchange listing price. In fact, only 10 projects accounted for 99 percent of any positive gains, so there was less than a one in ten chance of picking the right projects that would prove to be more valuable than their initial offering price. These projects were mostly in the blockchain infrastructure area, indicating that there is still a lot of foundational groundwork being done in the crypto space.

ICO Tokens Not a Better Investment than Ethereum

Ethereum price chart | Source: TradingView

The 13-page presentation available online goes on to point out that even the most successful of the projects have barely made any impact when compared to ethereum, which has the most development, support, and market capitalization by a very large margin.

However, in spite of overall poor performance from the ICOs available since the end of 2017, there doesn’t seem to be any lack of demand for new projects through 2018. The first have of this year has seen over $15 billion USD put into blockchain and cryptocurrency related projects, with most funding coming through ICOs, and some through more traditional venture capital.

Nobody investing in cryptocurrency would be surprised to know that returns were a long shot, or that most projects will fail. Just like the dotcom boom of two decades ago, there were far more losers than winners. Of more concern is the fact that so few projects seem actually to be generating products. It’s one thing to try and fail; it’s another not even to be able to get in the game.

Hopefully, some of the projects that raised significant amounts of money in 2017 will still produce working prototypes to test in the market. But after a year, legitimate questions start to be raised about how well the resources within these projects are being allocated.

Source